Nikola Tosic
Nikola Tosic
Design
Based in Belgrade Serbia
Lived in Lagos, Missouri, Milano, Paris, Cape Town, Thessaloniki
Who inspires you, and why?
Choosing specific individuals would be incorrect. Everyone is an inspiration. Definitely if I need inspiration about theoretical physics I will try to meet, read, watch theoretical physicists but I usually need inspiration about basic things in life, and there is plenty of inspiration everywhere. Every individual is an expert in their own experience. Life experience and art, poetry, and philosophy which communicate it are not sciences, but universal needs. I am recently more inspired by problems. I react more to problems. I also chose to live in Serbia which is inspiring because it is in the middle between comfort and problems - it is not as problematic as South Africa and Nigeria (where I lived) or as comfortable as Italy, France, and USA (where I also lived).
What's your main life goal?
My goals are the same as everyone else's - be safe, provide safety to my children, family, and - if I can - everyone else. You. I am different in how I provide that safety. We all are. I have chosen a non-conventional method. I know some people take that kind of a risk and, if it succeeds, it is a great innovation from which many can benefit. I am fully dedicated to what I do, I never forget it, it consumes me completely, and I enjoy that. It is the only way it can be done. However, I am lucky I am working with other people who are like me.
In your opinion, is life fair?
It is not useful to think of life as fair. Also that question is kind of a trap. What is life, what is fair? Life is not just the time we have but the situation in which we are during this time. It is a very complex situation, far greater than us as individuals. Assuming such complexity has interest in us is not healthy. Even the political situation of a small town is so complex that no individual can actually deal with it. Besides hoping for luck, we can always maximize our opportunities for safety by being more objective, and the first step in that objectivity is to accept that fair life is not a relevant concept.
Of course. So what's the greatest reward in life?
To be as objective, to develop our consciousness. Bad and good things will happen to us, we can never avoid them. However, being objective, rational, will allow us to be more connected, empathic, tolerant of the events we experience. Life is extremely challenging and the best way to manage that is to work on our consciousness, our higher levels of thinking, our mind, our rationality, the ability to get closer to the truth.
If you were God, what is the one thing you would change right now?
Nothing. We have everything we need. We just make the wrong choices. But because of this, when we do make the right choices, we are enjoying them much more. In my view humans are stupid until they reach immortality. The fact that we waste enormous energy without solving immortality is ridiculous. However, God should not help us with this. We must realize this ourselves and get it done. Only then we will respect this gift we reached by ourselves, using our minds.
What's your biggest challenge in life, and how do you overcome it?
The biggest challenge is always in our minds. Doubt, confusion, fear. It is always there. Waiting. And we have to rationally push it back. I overcome this weakness by always moving forward. If I stagnate with my mind, I can lose control and fall back. Sometimes it is good to lose a bit of control, to remember what it is, only to regain much more control, to move forward even more.
Finally, what is your greatest life advice?
Talk to people, write for people, listen to people, read what people write. By people I mean everyone, not just the celebrities. Accept that you are an individual who is also part of a collective, and alone we can do very little.
via imessage 11 07 22